Ron Paul

Andy Unanue will file his nominating petitions for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination today, although his intention to continue his two week old candidacy remains uncertain after party leaders sought to push him out last week and anoint John Crowley.  Crowley turned it down – twice. Keep an eye on Unanue’s Committee on Vacancies – that group of three may have the power to put another candidate in the race.

Keep an eye on local filings at various County Clerk’s offices to see if Frank Lautenberg and Rob Andrews file full slates – including Freeholder candidates – in any of the counties where the other has the organization line. 

Look out for news on who will replace Andrews as the Democratic candidate for Congress in the first district.  Chances are it will be a placeholder – so that Democratic leaders can get together after the primary to pick a candidate.

Watch the tenth congressional district and see if anyone files to run against ten-term incumbent Donald Payne, who will be on the Lautenberg slate.  Over the weekend, some Democrats were talking about Mark Alexander, a Seton Hall Law Professor who works for Barack Obama.

The seven Republican County Chairmen where Andy Unanue has the organization line held a conference call today and agreed to endorse John Crowley for the United States Senate, according to several sources. Unanue has party organization support in Atlantic, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Hudson, Monmouth and Ocean counties.

Mercer County voted this week to endorse Crowley if he runs, and sources say that Burlington County Republicans, who have not backed a new candidate since Anne Estabrook withdrew from the race, are also expected to support Crowley.

Sources say that State Sen. Kevin O’Toole, the Essex County GOP Chairman, strongly leans towards Crowley.

State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio will have line in Bergen, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Passaic, Salem, Somerset and Union counties. He also enjoys support of party leaders in Morris and Warren counties, which have open primaries.

Mercer County Republicans voted to postpone the endorsement of a U.S. Senate candidate tonight and will wait and see if biotech millionaire John Crowley decides to enter the race.

“We have two new candidates, one from Mercer County,” said Mercer County GOP Chairman Roy Wesley. “So it’s almost like we have one of our own who we need to give some consideration to.”

Crowley, 39, was a Bristol-Myers Squibb executive eleven years ago when he found out his 15-month-old daughter and four-month-old son had a rare and fatal neuromuscular disease. He wound up leaving to head up a series of biotech firms and has raised a reported $200 million for research of genetic diseases. Harrison Ford is expected to play Crowley in a film about his life.

In an informal vote, taken by a show of hands, Mercer Republicans overwhelmingly supported deferring a formal endorsement in the Senate race, and authorized the party’s executive committee to award the organization line sometime before the April 7 filing deadline.

State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio and Ramapo College Professor Murray Sabrin attended the convention. A third candidate, millionaire businessman Andy Unanue, is vacationing in Vail.

Over the course of the next week, brand new U.S. Senate candidate Andy Unanue will have a chance to cement his status as the Republican favorite to take on incumbent Democrat Frank Lautenberg in a marathon series of eight conventions.

Between tomorrow and next Wednesday, there are Republican county conventions coming up in Monmouth, Mercer, Ocean, Atlantic, Cumberland, Salem, Middlesex and Somerset. County committees will decide between Unanue, a businessman who's an heir to the Goya Foods fortune and the heir apparent to the campaign of former candidate Anne Estabrook, and his two Republican competitors: state Sen. Joe Pennacchio and Ramapo College finance professor Murray Sabrin.

The person who each committee picks will be awarded a coveted spot on the party line, which typically provides a boost to the candidate whose name occupies it.

But Pennacchio, not to be counted out, is focusing on winning the line in traditionally Democratic counties where he believes he can appeal to a working-class "Reagan Democrat base" in the general election - specifically Mercer and Middlesex. He already has the line in Bergen County, although that may change if Republican Chairman Rob Ortiz meets with his executive committee and opts to give the line to Unanue, a personal friend who he recruited. He's also got the line in Hunterdon, Passaic and Union counties.

Prof. Murray Sabrin says he'll resign from the Senate after 22 months if U.S. troops aren't home from Iraq
GOP U.S. Senate candidate Murray Sabrin says he would resign by September 2010 if all combat troops are not removed from Iraq by then, and called on incumbent Frank Lautenberg to make the same promise.

“Senator Lautenberg must take his share of responsibility for not bringing the troops home. Our troops accomplished their mission and won the Iraq War by removing Saddam Hussein,” said Sabrin, a Ramapo College Professor who heads Ron Paul’s presidential campaign in New Jersey. “Americans continue to support our troops and approve going after the terrorists who attacked America on September 11th, however, Americans know we can not end another country’s Civil War.”

Rep. Ron Paul, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, will hold a fundraiser for GOP U.S. Senate candidate Murray Sabrin on April 28.  Tickets for the event, which will be held in New York City, are between $250 and $2,300. 

The buzz among Republican insiders over the last two days is that party leaders seem genuinely excited by the prospects of millionaire businessman Andy Unanue entering the race for United States Senator.  The former Chief Operating Officer of Goya Foods, one of the largest Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States, makes an interesting candidate: a self-funder who his 44 years younger than the incumbent and can compete for Latino votes.

Republicans will have a congressional primary in the twelfth district, where two candidates are seeking the chance to challenge five-term Democrat Rush Holt. The Monmouth County GOP organization is backing Holmdel Deputy Mayor Alan Bateman, while Ron Paul’s New Jersey campaign is promoting Dan Maiullo, who says he joined the GOP last November to support Paul’s candidacy.  Maiullo says he’s running to “help perpetuate the enormous energy harnessed by the Ron Paul campaign for President,” and wants to his campaign against Holt “as a platform for communicating his principles of freedom and limited government.”

Prof. Murray Sabrin, a Ron Paul Republican, has scheduled a Legalizing Freedom College Tour: Joe Pennacchio, under fire for his Naionalist manifesto, calls Sabrin a "fringe" candidate
U.S. Senate candidate Murray Sabrin has found a novel way to appeal to young voters: let them drink.

Sabrin is kicking off his Legalizing Freedom College Tour by calling on the elimination of the national minimum drinking age of 21 in favor of allowing states to come up with their own ages.

Over the next month, Sabrin will visit four New Jersey college campuses to try to get youngsters riled up for his campaign. He’s planned stops at William Paterson University, Stevens Institute of Technology, Fairleigh Dickinson University and Brookdale Community college.

His call for drinking age reform is one example of his campaign to “legalize freedom,” he said.